Yummy Yummy with Curry Mee

I have been to this curry mee stall since I was young, I don't remember since when this stall was there, I just knew that it had been there for many many years. This curry mee stall offers very special curry taste that I don't experience elsewhere. Thus, it's always one of the best that I have ever tasted. There's the special chilli paste that is specially made for those who opt for spicier taste. I used to put around two tablespoon of it, though I no longer do this anymore. :P To add to its credit, the prawns it offers are fresh and the size pretty satisfies me everytime I am there. The size I mentioned was not of course super huge, however, for normal stall such as that, the medium-sized prawns are quite a good offer. Oh ya, do expect to wait for at least 20 minutes before the food is served, especially when the place gets crowded. For an additional bit of information, this stall is only opened from morning till around 12 noon, if I am not mistaken. If you were there late, it's always high possibility that, they will have their ingredients run out of stock. This curry mee stall is located along Chain Ferry Road, immediately after the crossroad (there're traffic lights at the crossroad) after a Proton (Again, if I am not mistaken) Cars Showroom. It's located at the corner of the junction. And there's a small garage beside.

Curry Mee is a dish that is unique to Malaysia, usually made up of thin yellow egg noodles or/and string thin mee-hoon (rice vermicelli) with spicy curry soup, coconut milk, and a choice of dried tofu, prawns, cuttlefish, chicken, egg and mint leaves. However, what makes Curry Mee is a special chilli/sambal and pig's blood. The pig's blood is usually coagulated, and in cubes, but can be omitted by choice.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_Mee)

The Curry Mee Stall


The Curry Mee Stall


Curry Mee


Curry Mee


Curry Mee

Yummy Yummy @ Ban Chuan Chicken Rice Restaurant, Perai

During the long DeepaRaya break, I had the chance to enjoy more meals together with my family and friends. The first lunch in Penang for the break - we went to this Chicken Rice Restaurant - The Ban Chuan Chicken Rice Restaurant. Since the popularize of "Assam Soup" served together with the chicken rice by a famous chicken rice shop (Beng Huat Chicken Rice Restaurant), many of the chicken rice shops or stalls also offered the choice of tasting the soup, and this Ban Chuan shop is not excluded as well.

This shop also offered a wide variety of side dishes which are not common in area such as Kuala Lumpur. Here, you can have vegetables in oil, fish in asam (tamarind) soup, lady fingers, assorted deep-fried food and tofu (bean curd).

The Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is the only species of the genus Tamarindus in the family Fabaceae. It is a tropical tree. In Malaysia it is called asam in Malay and swee boey in Hokkien. The fruit pulp is edible and popular. It is used as a spice in both Asian and Latin American cuisines, and is also an important ingredient in Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce. The pulp of a young fruit is very sour and acidic and is most often used as a component of savory dishes. The ripened fruit is sweeter and can be used in desserts and drinks, or as a snack.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asam)

Tofu, also called doufu (often in Chinese recipes) or bean curd (literal translation), is a food of Chinese origin, made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean_curd)

Ban Chuan Chicken Rice Shop


Have a look at what the shop offers:


A different view of the shop:


Assorted Deep-Fried Food


Fish in Asam Soup


Ladyfingers with Sambal
Sambal is a condiment used in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, made from a variety of peppers, although chilli peppers are the most common. Sambal is used as a condiment or as a side dish, and is sometimes substituted for fresh chilis; it can be very hot for the uninitiated. It is available at exotic food markets or gourmet departments in supermarkets in numerous countries.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambal)


Fried Tofu


Asam Soup


And finally the main dish - Chicken


In typical chicken shops or stalls, they offer chilli sauce with different taste, due to the different ingredients they included. So, if you haven't been off spicy, please make sure you have a taste on the specially made chilli sauce.

For your information, Ban Chuan Chicken Rice Shop is located along Chai Leng Park's Wai Sik Kai at Perai area.

Sarawak Trip (Day 3)

Day 3 - The Final Adventure.

We had our breakfast in the hotel again.

This time, I tried the scrambled egg.


Fish Ball, Cocktail, Four Season Rolls, Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, Baked Beans...


In the Kuching International Airport, surprisingly the whole airport has only one eatery (However, a KFC outlet is to be opened soon, but not when we were there!). Having no other choice, we went to the only eatery - Only Mee Restaurant.


Despite its name, there are rice served in the restaurant as well. My brother ordered this. It's the Pot Rice with Green Curry Chicken.


It came with a side dish and a soup - Fishball Soup and Acar.
Acar is a Malaysian salad. It is made from different kinds of hard vegetables such yardlong beans, carrots and cabbage which are pickled in vinegar and dried chillies. The vegetables are then tossed in ground peanuts.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acar)



This meal officially ended our food search quest in Kuching, the Cat City.

Sarawak Trip (Day 2)

Day 2.

My brother and I woke up early in the morning for a purpose - to enjoy the Buffet Breakfast which was included in the package when we paid for our hotel room.

To our dismay, the buffet spread was not grand, with only some limited choice. However, they were certainly more than enough as breakfast for us, because we planned to...

The breakfast enjoyed by my brother and I was as follows...

Bread and Pastry


I made myself the toasted bread spread with some margerine and made them as sandwich together with a piece of smoked turkey ham. The combination was yummy~


Hotdogs, Roti Plata, Chicken Fingers...


Fried Rice, Fried Bee Hoon (Rice vermicelli), Omelette


And finally... fruits


Yes, because we planned to visit Min Joo Restaurant AGAIN! To satisfy our appetite of trying the local food there, we decided to go to the same noodle stall we went yesterday, but still, our aim was to try the real kolo mee. So, we went there earlier.

The "real" version of Kolo Mee.


The Vegetable and Pork Soup.


The Mee Kosong (Only the noodles without any toppings).


Iced Tea with Milk.


After some further touring around the city, our "tour guide" brought us to this restaurant - The Hong Kong Noodle House.






Tofu with Seafood.


Pork Ribs in Sweet and Sour Sauce.


Fried Fish Fillets with Butter.


Stir-fried Midin with Sambal Belacan.
Forest ferns have a special place in the diet of the people, with the two most popular ferns used as vegetables being midin and the fiddlehead fern (pucuk paku). Midin grows wild in the secondary forests and is peculiar to the state. It has curly fronds and is very crunchy even after it has been cooked. Rural dwellers have always considered the fern a tasty, nutritious vegetable and the jungle fern’s rise from rural staple to urban gourmet green occurred in the 1980s with the increased urban migration of the Iban, Orang Ulu and other groups.

Today, the fern is widely available in markets. It is enjoyed by all and many eateries have the fern on their menu, often stir-fried with sambal belacan. Unfortunately, the fern does not travel well as it only stays fresh up to two days after harvesting so Sarawak is largely the only place to try midin dishes.
(Extracted from http://kuali.com/flavours/review.asp?file=recfeature/2005/7/47savou&sec=recfeature)


During the night, we paid the Sunday Market at Jalan Satok a visit.
The Sunday Market, which actually starts on Saturday afternoon, is held at
Jln Satok. It is renowned for the Bidayuh ladies who set up shop here selling fruit
and vegetables, but there are also many good Chinese and Malay stalls. Goods on
offer include handicrafts, forest produce (including deliacious wild honey), pets of
all descriptions, orchid plants, live fish, and a whole range of local snacks and
delicacies. The market is a must for weekend visitors, as it is very colourful and
teeming with shoppers. The best time to go is Saturday night or early Sunday
morning. (Extracted from Official Kuching Guide 2006)

There we finally had the chance to try the Sarawak Laksa. However, to me, it was like no difference with the Curry Mee I used to eat in Peninsular Malaysia, except that the Curry Mee has noodle as well instead of just the rice vermicelli as in Sarawak Laksa. And I still prefer the Curry Mee version as the soup base has richer aroma and flavour, but maybe because I never have the chance to try the best Sarawak Laksa in the city!


We also ordered some satay. The satay was cheap compared to what I used to have in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, at only RM 0.40 per stick.

Satay
Although recipes and ingredients vary from country to country, satay generally consists of chunks or slices of meat on bamboo or coconut leaf spine skewers, which are grilled over a wood or charcoal fire. Turmeric is often used to marinate satay and gives it a characteristic yellow color. Meats used include beef, pork, venison, fish, shrimp and chicken. It may be served with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or peanut gravy, slivers of onions and cucumbers, and ketupat. Pork satay can be served in a pineapple based satay sauce. An Indonesian version uses a soy-based dip.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satay)


In the Sunday Market, I finally had a view of the Midin in its uncooked form.


And I bought something peculiar, at least to me. I bought a banana at RM 1!

Couldn't imagine what's so special about this? Check out the next photo.


Do you know why now?

These all ended our Day 2 trip as we went back to our hotel directly after the Sunday Market visit.